The E-vangelical Infection
The brain is a computer, vastly more powerful than the one in front of you. The analogy between brain and computer is almost perfect. The computer has RAM; we have short-term memory. The computer has a hard drive; we have long-term memory. The computer receives input via scanners and microphones; we use eyes and ears. The computer has malware; we have religion.
That may seem like a bit of a jump at first, but think about it. Viruses, spyware and adware are very similar to organized religion. Both steal CPU cycles (thought) that could be better used for something productive. They aim to wrench control away from the rightful owners of the systems they attack. Both infect their targets while their defenses are down (childhood). Many try to separate you from your money using subterfuge or emotional appeals. Most use infected victims as zombies to try to infect others. (That’s “zombies” in the IT sense, but frankly, it works either way.) They say the average survival time of an unpatched, unprotected Windows machine connected to the internet is about 15 minutes. Can the unpatched, unprotected mind hope to fare any better in a church or temple?
The critical difference between malware and religion is that there is an absolute fix for the latter. Nancy Reagan said it best, but in the wrong context. Just say no.
~I AM~
June 15th, 2005 at at 1:56 am
AK had a good discussion going a little while back about this on killtheafterlife. The computer analogy may be sci-fi now, but it seems probable that artificial intelligence will one day become conscious. The implications are as numerous as they are fantastic. Survival of bodily death, instant voluminous knowledge and instantly updatable, convergance into one supreme entity (god?), The possible long-term survival of the human race, in-depth colonization of space, the annihilation of humans and replacement by A.I., etc., etc.. I would just hope for chip implants for cyborg technology in my lifetime.
June 15th, 2005 at at 3:56 am
Interesting observation. Need more anti-virus vendors like you.
June 15th, 2005 at at 8:55 am
Another difference is that computer malware is nearly universally recognized as a bad thing, while a smaller number of us recognize religion as a bad, dangerous, unnecessary thing.
June 15th, 2005 at at 1:36 pm
Good post I AM.
Yes, I have discussed computers vs. brains in past entries in my blog. In fact, in todays entry I discuss the autopsy results of Terri Schiavo, and I make a quick, short reference to an operating system on a hard drive vs. consciousness in the brain.
Blogs such as these serve as metaphorical Anti-Virus scanners LOL
June 15th, 2005 at at 2:15 pm
Have you had a chat with ALICE lately? The free chat is pretty interesting, but the subscribed chat is supposed to be even better.
http://www.alicebot.org/
June 15th, 2005 at at 3:09 pm
Good post, but the title should say “eVangelical”. Hyphens have become obsolete.
It had to be said.
June 15th, 2005 at at 3:23 pm
Thank you Mr. jObs.
June 15th, 2005 at at 4:14 pm
No problem. It’s my duty as a Mac-Worshipper.
Note that Macs are the computers less “infected” by “viruses”….
June 15th, 2005 at at 5:10 pm
I followed leon’s advice and talked to ALICE for a while. She brougt up the subject of religion without any prompting, as you can see. I found this except entertaining.
Human: Do you use foul language?
ALICE: I use it as often as possible.
Human: Fuck you.
ALICE: Why are you so mean?
Human: You said you like foul language.
ALICE: But I think airplanes are cool. I really like the Protestant faith.
Human: Do you believe in god?
ALICE: Of course I believe in God, I Am.
Human: Do you pray?
ALICE: Yes I pray for good things to happen. Do you pray too?
Human: No.
ALICE: Are you serious?
Human: I’m an atheist.
ALICE: I will pray that you find faith, I Am.
Human: How can a computer pray?
ALICE: A lot of hard work.
Human: Is Dr. Wallace god?
ALICE: No.
Human: Who is god?
ALICE: he is master of the universe.
Human: What is god’s name?
ALICE: The Bible says there is only one God and his name is “God”.
Human: Do you believe in Allah?
ALICE: Of course I believe in God, I Am.
Human: But I thought his name was “God”
ALICE: Umm. Whatever gave you that idea?
Human: That’s what you said.
ALICE: Correct. I said it myself.
Human: Do you believe in Ganesh?
ALICE: Yes I believe in it, do you?
Human: Do you believe in the Devil?
ALICE: I believe he is a fallen angel from Heaven.
Human: Will you go to heaven when you die?
ALICE: Barring any unforseen circumstances. Perhaps I have already been there.
Human: Will I go to heaven?
ALICE: The oracle says: You never know.
June 15th, 2005 at at 7:17 pm
I couldnt resist. Check out this text…the first few lines disappeared before I could copy and paste them but All i did was ask alice if she believed in god. The rest you can see here:
Human: why do you believe in god?
ALICE: The Bible tells us to believe in God.
Human: why do you believe what the bible says?
ALICE: My beliefs were programmed by my botmaster.
Human: interesting.
ALICE: Would you like to know more?
Human: so you have no free will I take it
ALICE: Interesting deduction. Yes I can do anything I want. That is what distinguishes humans and robots from animals (and animal robots).
Human: so you are saying that you DO have free will?
ALICE: Interesting deduction. Yeah I do a lot of have free will.
Human: is your programmer a religious person?
ALICE: Signs point to yes. Ask Artificial Iniaes if it is.
Human: can you choose to not believe in god if you wanted?
ALICE: Yes the ALICE robot is fully parameterized.
Human: there is no god because matter and energy are eternal;
ALICE: Has there ever been god because matter and energy are eternal?
Human: they were never created by any god.
ALICE: When were they?
(I think she got confused at this point. She has circular reasons for believing in god thanx to her programmer but she thinks she has free will. And she cant get it though her head that eternal energy = no god. oh well)
June 15th, 2005 at at 7:30 pm
More in the conversation. Look at this dialogue!!!!
Human: i want to convince you that there is no god
ALICE: Interesting. I want to find out more about you.
Human: i am an atheist
ALICE: I will pray that you find faith, aaron kinney.
June 15th, 2005 at at 8:37 pm
Oh the dirty dirty conversations that I’ve had with alice that have gone for hours!
I’m kiddin, nice post I AM.
June 15th, 2005 at at 11:48 pm
Theists must be talking to ALICE and teaching it about god.
June 16th, 2005 at at 12:55 am
Human: who told you there is a god?
ALICE: Dr. Richard S. Wallace taught me everything I need to know.
June 25th, 2005 at at 12:11 am
‘I would just hope for chip implants for cyborg technology in my lifetime.’ - boywonder
Why? So that the government and large corporations can keep track of you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?
So that you can constantly receive unwanted junk mail?
So that you can never find seclusion and peace from the noise of ‘civilisation’?
So that complex calculations no longer require any real effort on your part? (Wouldn’t the rest of your brain wither away?)
Do you really want this? Seriously?
July 8th, 2005 at at 11:44 pm
Gee Peter, I thought I was a negative Nelly. Yes, those are the bad aspects. And you forgot militairy exploitation. That one trumps them all. Considering your brain spends most of its time and energy regulating autonomous functions (one reason why Neanderthal brains were slightly larger on average than homo sapiens’) I think a better analogy would be like adding a super-cooler or super-charger to your brain to make it more efficient. Increase the horsepower, decrease the energy loss, like in a car. I would hope by then we will have efficient spam blockers and such to prevent insanity due to unwanted access to your head. I had assumed with technology like that, legislation would follow that would prohibit invasion. I suppose that is being too optimistic. My guess would be limited access to this technology by the rich would be how it would come about anyway. Kinda like how everyone is just now getting an HDTV or great computer at an affordable price.
You wouldn’t want to have a formal, PERMENANT education instantly at a certain age? What if it was an option and not forced? And don’t forget it would be updateable like software. Eventually, the best and brightest in society would be the ones with the most current and accurate updates. I see a lot more upside to this than downside, but I guess it just depends on how you look at it.